Yayoi Kusama

7 February - 20 March 2008
Victoria Miro Gallery I & II

Information

16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW
Download:

For the first time Victoria Miro presents an exhibition which spans both exhibition spaces at 14 & 16 Wharf Road offering a substantial presentation of Yayoi Kusama's work.

For this exhibition, Kusama has conceived a new installation Dots Obsession - Infinity Mirrored Room (2008) especially for the upper gallery and in the lower galleries has installed 45 new silkscreen works that are shown alongside two significant sculptural pieces from the early nineties. Also on view is a series of new dot paintings and an environmental installation I'm Here, but Nothing, (2000-2008). The exhibition continues outside the gallery where Kusama has installed one of her most infamous works, Narcissus Garden in Regents Canal - a work which has never before been exhibited in the UK.

Kusama's work is instantly recognisable for her signature use of obsessively repeated forms - dots, nets & phallic protrusions - which can be traced back to childhood hallucinations in which multiplying forms encompassed the universe so that she and everything else was obliterated.  The new installation in the upper gallery Dots Obsession - Infinity Mirrored Room (2008) comprises giant polka-dot inflatable sculptures arranged in tent-like forms. The installation invites the viewer to completely immerse themselves in the work and to share in the isolation and disorientation experienced by the artist.

In the lower galleries Kusama presents a new suite of silkscreen works on canvas. Like the renowned Infinity Net and Dot Paintings, these works are also characterised by the obsessive repetition of certain motifs. Her visual language is here predominantly figurative and is replete with identical female profiles, outlines of lips or eyes, dotty organisms, serpentine forms and doll-like figures. Exhibited en masse their effect is akin to a stream of consciousness, as is reflected in titles such as A Dream I Dreamed Yesterday, Infinity Cosmos and Women in a Dream.  Also installed in the lower galleries is Infinity Mirrored Room - Love Forever (1994), a freestanding box that uses mirrors facing each other to produce an infinite number of reflections. Like all of Kusama's mirrored environments this work is much more than a simple optical device, rather serving to embody the artist's monomaniac fears.

A recurring motif in Kusama's practice is a phallic-like form that has colonised many found objects including frying pans, teapots & ironing boards. Here, multiple phallic forms are rendered in fabric and silver paint with in a grid framework in a work entitled Prisoner's Door, (1994). Broadly known as Accumulations, these sculptures are often identified as an attempt by the artist to confront her deep-seated sexual fears by giving them physical embodiment.

Narcissus Garden is installed on the galleries canal side terrace and in Regents canal and will link the two parts of the exhibition.  The work dates back to 1966, when Kusama first participated in the 33rd Venice Biennale. The work comprised hundreds of mirrored spheres outdoors in what she called a 'kinetic carpet'. As soon as the piece was installed, Kusama began selling each individual sphere for $2, until the Biennale organisers put an end to her enterprise. Perhaps one of Kusama's most notorious works, Narcissus Garden was as much about the promotion of the artist through the media as it was an opportunity to offer a critique of the mechanisation and commodification of the art market. Various versions of Narcissus Garden have been presented worldwide at venues including Le Consortium, Dijon, 2000; Kunstverein Braunschweig, 2003 and Central Park, New York in 2004 and now in the UK.

In a departure from her largely monochromatic canvases, Kusama has installed a new series of multi-coloured dot paintings and I'm Here, but Nothing, (2000-2008). This installation is a simply furnished room consisting of table and chairs, place settings and bottles, armchairs and rugs, however its walls are tattooed with hundreds of fluorescent polka dots glowing in the UV light. The result is an endless infinite space where the self and everything in the room is obliterated.

Victoria Miro

16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: +44 (0)20 7336 8109

info@victoria-miro.com

View map

Victoria Miro Venice

San Marco 1994,

Calle Drio La Chiesa

30124 Venice, Italy

t: +39 041 523 3799 

info@victoria-miro.com
View map

Opening Times

During exhibitions:

London: 
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm. 

 

Venice: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm & 2–6pm. 

 

We are also closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays. 

 

Admission free. 



 

Enquiries

All general enquiries should be sent to
info@victoria-miro.com

 

All press enquiries should be sent to
press@victoria-miro.com
 
All rights and reproduction enquiries should be sent to
rights@victoria-miro.com


Victoria Miro does not accept unsolicited artist applications.

 

Before contacting or subscribing please read our Privacy Policy

 

We respect the choices you make about how you would like to hear from us. You will find links at the bottom of all emails we send from our mailing list which allow you to Update your preferences to change the way we contact you, or Unsubscribe if you want to opt out.

 

Read our Modern Slavery Statement here.

 

Read our sustainability statement here.

Subscribe

Staff contact details

Directors

Victoria Miro
W.P. Miro
Glenn Scott Wright
Gussie Huddart
Executive Assistant to Directors
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7549 0491

Sales

Divya Pande
Head of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0903
Oliver Miro
Director of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7549 0496
Paula Sankoff
Senior Director, Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7549 0494
Clare Coombes
Director of Sales - Museum Acquisitions
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0919
Simon Kirby
Director of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7549 0498
Alessandra Modiano
Director of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 3962 4346
Will Davies
Director of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 3962 4355
Fern Warriner
Associate Director of Sales
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0905
Pia Sophie Biasi
Director – Venice
Direct line: +39 041 523 3799
Alexandra Leverett
Senior Sales Administrator
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 3962 4344
Victor Schagerlund
Sales Administrator
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 3962 4356
Libby Tyler
Sales Administrator
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0912

Exhibitions

Erin Manns
Director of Exhibitions - Head of Department
Direct line: +44 (0) 7780 463 580
Jessica Green
Director of Exhibitions
Direct line: +44 (0) 7957 195 504
Rachel Kent
Director of Exhibitions
Direct line: +44 (0) 7852 751 045
Mary Taylor
Production Director
Direct line: +44 (0) 7950 267 092
Simona Pizzi
Artist Projects Director
Direct line: +44 (0) 7848 006 894
Imogen Sampson
Exhibitions Associate
Direct line: +44 (0) 7572 724 115
Virginia Sirena
Exhibitions Associate
Direct line: +44 (0) 7950 267 246
Julia Oborne
Digital & Exhibitions – Vortic Exhibition Associate
Direct line: +44 (0) 7883 702 323

Communications

Kathy Stephenson
Director of Communications
Direct line: +44 (0) 7803 611 186
Martin Coomer
Head of Editorial and Digital Content
Direct line: +44 (0) 7930 490 411
Marisa J. Futernick
Digital and Social Media Consultant
Direct line: +1 (860) 549 2576
Content and Communications Manager
Direct line: +44 (0)7375 789 535
Bea Bradley
Photography, Rights & Reproduction Manager
Direct line: +44 (0) 7957 787 866
Aimee Blow
Design and Communications Coordinator
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109

Operations

Robert Holzberger
Director of Operations
Direct line: +44 (0) 7986 580 363
Photini Pavlidis
Senior Facilities and IT Manager
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0914
Olivia Singh
Operations Manager
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7549 0493
Vicky Polakovic
Front of House and Events Coordinator
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0913
Mary Eleanor McNicholas
Art Fair Coordinator
Direct line: +44 (0) 7896 548 233
Clare Rowe
Paper Archive and Records Manager
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Philip Ewe
Library Coordinator and Archive Assistant
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Adeline Guy
Registrar Director - Head of Department
Direct line: +44 (0) 7490 237 709
Jayne Archard
Senior Registrar
Direct line: +44 (0) 7496 865 055
Alice Panton
Senior Registrar
Direct line: +44 (0) 7852 751 046
Emer Bermingham
Senior Registrar
Direct line: +44 (0) 7984 073 772
Fiona Holdsworth
Assistant Registrar
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Amelia Power
Assistant Registrar
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7324 0901

Technical Services

David Wood
Technical Director, Head of Department
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Jon Glazier
Head Technician
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Martin Fletcher
Senior Technician
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Jonny Winter
Senior Technician
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Rob Phillips
Senior Technician
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109
Ross Taylor
Technician
Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109

Finance

Direct line: +44 (0) 20 7336 8109